Genetic Propensity to Neuroinflammatory CNS Diseases in Korean Children: Molecular Typing of HLA Class II

PURPOSE: The study was aimed to investigate immunogenetic peculiarities of neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children. METHODS: A total of 16 children with neuroinflammatory CNS diseases(9 males and 7 females; mean age 7.5+/-4.2 years) were consecutively recruited. Genomic typings were performed on their HLA DRB/HLA DQB genes using PCR-SSOP/SSP techniques with Gel immunoelectrophoresis. RESULTS: The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*14(38%), HLA-DRB1*15(25%), HLA-DRB3* 02(50%), HLA-DQB1*05(56%) and DQB1*06(44%) were significantly increased compared with a control group. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*15(50%) and HLA-DQB1*06(63%) were significantly increased in children with ADEM and HLA-DRB3*0202(100%), HLA- DRB1*1302(67%), HLA-DRB3*0301(67%), and HLA-DQB1*0301(67%) in children with multiple sclerosis. HLA-DRB1*1401, HLA-DRB3*0202, and HLA-DQB1*0502 were found in children with acute necrotizing encephalopathy. CONCLUSION:HLA-DRB1*14, HLA-DRB1*15, HLA-DRB3*02, HLA-DQB1*05 and DQB1*06 may be associated with the susceptibility to neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*1501, HLA-DRB5*0101, HLA-DRB3* 0301, and HLA-DQB1*0602 in Korean children with multiple sclerosis were not as high as those in western children. However, HLA-DRB3*0202 was seen in all the children with multiple sclerosis. Our data may provide further evidence that the immunogenetic backgrounds of neuroinflammatory CNS diseases in Korean children are distinctly different from those in Westerns. However, further studies are needed.

Molecular Analysis of HLA Class ll-Associated Susceptibility to Neuroinflammatory Diseases in Korean Children

The work was done to study immunogenetic peculiarities of neuroinflammatory diseases among Korean children. A total of 13 children with neuroinflammatory diseases (8 males and 5 females; mean age 4.6+/-2.6 yr) were consecutively recruited. Genomic typing was performed on their HLA DRB/HLA DQB genes using PCR-SSOP/ SSP techniques with gel immunoelectrophoresis. The frequencies of HLA-DR1* 15 in children with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (31%) and DQB1* 06 in other neuroinflammatory diseases (38%) were significantly increased compared with control subjects. The frequencies of HLA-DRB3*0202 (100%), HLA-DRB1*1302 (67%), HLA-DRB3*0301 (67%), and HLA-DQB1*0301 (67%) were significantly increased in children with multiple sclerosis and the frequencies of HLA-DRB1*1501 (40%) and HLA-DRB5*0101 (40%) were significantly increased in children with ADEM. HLA-DRB1*1401, HLA- DRB3*0202, and HLA-DQB1*0502 were found in children with acute necrotizing encephalopathy. In conclusion, HLA-DR1*15 and DQB1*06 may be involved in susceptibility to inflammation in Korean children. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*1501, HLA-DRB5*0101, HLA-DRB3*0301, and HLADQB1* 0602 were not as high in Korean children with multiple sclerosis as in western children. However, HLA-DRB3*0202 was seen in all children with multiple sclerosis. Our data may provide further evidence that the immunogenetic background of neuroinflammatory diseases in Korean is distinctly different from the ones in western countries. Further studies are necessary to confirm this finding.